Wayne Rooney has spoken openly about his struggles to maintain his weight when not under a strict training regime.
The 38-year-old Plymouth Argyle boss is currently keeping busy with his work while his wife Coleen is 10,000 miles away from home on the other side of the world. But fans have raised concern over the ex-Manchester United star's health as recent photographs were shared online.
Wayne, who told the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! spin-off show that he has been living in Plymouth alone without the children, was recently spotted in the stands at Old Trafford during his former club's 3-0 loss against Tottenham. Expressing their concern, fans wondered why Wayne's face looked "red" with one saying on X: "He needs to take care of himself." Another added: "Hang in there, Wayne".
The worry from fans comes as the former England footballer previously revealed the extreme lengths he would go to to drop the pounds just before pre-season weigh-in.
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The Overlap)Rooney said he would return to action overweight and needed to shed the excess he had. He began employing drastic measures, which saw him go to great lengths as he fasted ahead of weigh ins and trained in a steam room.
He told the Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet: "I used to hate pre-season. I'd come back every pre-season six to seven pounds overweight. So I knew I had to put the work in. I used to take the bike in the steam room the day before we were back in. Then not eat until we'd been weighed!"
The England great broke into laughter as he continued: "Honestly the night before we'd go in to get weighed, I'd sit in the [steam room] for 90 minutes. Fully clothed! I wouldn't eat a thing, drink a thing, I'd be struggling to get in the building!"
One of the barometers for a player in pre-season is the bleep test - a gauge of where someone is at from a cardiovascular standpoint. Rooney knew that he'd need to do it several times with the expectation being he and his team-mates would keep getting better scores.
Knowing that was the case he used to bail out soon after the goalkeepers - giving him an easier to score to beat. He said: "I used to drop out early all the time. Because next time you do it, you need to do better! As soon as the keepers came out, I was out!"
Writing in his 2012 book My Decade In The Premier League, he revealed more about his fight to keep a trim figure amid the heigh of his career, writing: "I'm like most blokes, I put on a few pounds after a holiday. Even if I don't train for a week, I put on two or three."
Back in 2022, Rooney said that he only had one suit that fit him after being criticised over his appearance by Jamie Carragher on Sky's Monday Night Football. Carragher pointed out that Rooney had been wearing the same formal attire from his Premier League Hall of Fame induction a fortnight before the show.
He responded: "Do you know what? There's a reason behind that. Obviously, over the last year, I've put a little bit of weight on. So it's actually the only suit what'll fit me at the minute - I've got to get the most out of it."
Talking to ITV host Joel Dommet last week, the dad of four said he was missing Coleen and that it was the longest he had been without seeing her since they were children. "I think it's the longest, you know, I've been without speaking to her since we were kids," he said.
"And for the children, obviously it's difficult not being able to speak to the mum. But Coleen's parents are helping out obviously, while I'm over in Plymouth living there at the minute with my work. There's a good team looking after the kids and making sure everything is done. And so, we're missing her, but we're enjoying watching as well."
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